Secret Iranian Nuclear Facility In Ahwaz?

On July 29, 2008, the Kuwaiti daily Al-Siyassa reported that, according to “highly reliable sources,” Iranian authorities had begun construction of a secret nuclear reactor in the Al-Zarqan region close to the city of Ahwaz in southwest Iran, on the Iran-Iraq border.

The paper said that according to sources, Iran was working to distance its nuclear installations from international oversight. The English version of the report, published in the Kuwaiti Arab Times, said, “Disclosing [that] Tehran directed international A-bomb inspectors to other places, sources warned [that] the project poses a very serious threat to international security.”

Also according to the sources, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) did not know about this site at all, since it was not included in negotiations with Iran in Geneva held in early July.

According to the report, the sources said that during 2000-2003, Iran expropriated the lands and homes of thousands of Arab citizens from the Al-Zarqan region, destroying homes of thousands of Arab citizens from the Al-Zarqan region.

Read the rest, which includes an image of a purported secret IRGC letter to a construction company reminding of the need for secrecy and a satellite photo.

Keep in mind that the Arab minority in and around Ahwaz have not been in a general state of unrest simply because they dislike Persians, nor because they are ‘in the bag’ for America and her interests. The confiscation of homes and property just might have something to do with the overall grievance list, which has at its roots pervasive Persian discrimination from the central government in Tehran.

UPDATE: I left as obvious without saying, but should anyway, that “working to distance its nuclear installations from international oversight” is precisely the motivation that was behind the Iranian-Syrian-NoKor plutonium facility erased from the northern Syrian desert by Israel in September. It is also precisely the motivation that was behind Saddam Hussein’s farming out of his nuclear weapons research to the Libyan desert sands under the watchful eye of Muammar Qaddafi - another endeavor that the IAEA had no clue about.